Karate Kid: Legends Review

Karate Kid: Legends is a movie which comes directed by Jonathan Entwistle. The movie stars Ben Wang, Jackie Chan, Sadie Stanley and Ralph Macchio. It has a run time of 1 hour and 34 minutes.

This is one of the few kids movies that I went to see at the cinema this year. I always liked all of the Karate Kid movies and there’s barely any Kung Fu fighting movies to see at the cinema anymore. This makes going to see Karate Kid: Legends something that’s a bit of a unique experience. There’s just not anything like it.

There’s possibly two types of people that I think will enjoy this movie. Either it’s a boy who is about 10-14. Or, it’s an adult who grew up with the old Karate Kid movies and is looking for a little nostalgia. The best combination is probably an adult who grew up with the movies and also has a young boy to take to see this. If you’re in this group, I think there’s some enjoyment to be had with this.

For me, I enjoyed seeing Jackie Chan at the cinema again and he got a lot more screen time than I was expecting him to have. Also Ralph Macchio making an appearance in the film and also having a decent amount of screen time is also a massive plus.

The performances from the other actors are also good. I don’t know Ben Wang (Li Fong) or Sadie Stanley (Mia Lipani) at all as actors and don’t recall a movie that I’ve seen them in. But as the two lead actors for this movie, they were very pleasant, very likeable. I actually didn’t find any of the cast annoying at all, I liked everything about the performances.

The movie tells a story about a Kung Fu prodigy, Li Fong and his journey after he moves to New York to live. The kid gets singled out by a local Karate champion and is bullied a bit, he later does some training so he can fight back and also so he can win the local Karate tournament. Li Fong is trained by both Mr Han (Jackie Chan) and also Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio).

For a movie that’s a kids family film, the story is decent. It’s easy to follow, you know who the good guys are and also who the bad guys are. The objective of the movie is clear.

My only criticism of the movie is that when the actual Karate tournament is on, the fights are sped up a bit too much. The opponents, except for the main bad guy are kind of nothing. It would have been a bit better if the fight sequences were drawn out a bit longer but Maybe they can’t make the movie too violent since it’s a kids film, I don’t know. But for me, I wanted a little more Karate from the ‘Karate Kid’.

For those looking to see Karate Kid: Legends at the cinema this weekend. I’m happy to recommend it. The storyline is easy to follow, the actors are great and the characters aren’t annoying. I found the entire movie to be very pleasant. I think a lot of young boys will like this movie and even adults looking for some nostalgia. Just keep in mind, that if you do go to this as an adult, it is at the end of the day a ‘kids movie’. So don’t expect the action to be too violent.